The bottom layer of rhythm is tempo or beat.
The surface layer of rhythm gives a tune its unique characteristic.
But there is a third layer called harmonic rhythm that
In this video I'll use music from a bunch of different Zelda games to show how you can use
harmonic rhythm to establish an atmosphere, build excitement, or even create suspense.
There are basically three categories of slow,
medium, and fast, so I'll start by going through each of those speeds.
Then we'll look at a track from Link's Adventure that uses all three in a short time.
Then I'll show you how you can use a harmonic crescendo
to make finding treasure that much more exciting.
Let's start with the medium level because it's the most common.
This is where you have one new chord every measure,
which means every four beats in 4/4 time or every three beats in 3/4 time.
In Zelda's Lullaby we get a new chord every measure.
Let's compare that now with a slow harmonic rhythm.
or maybe you want to emphasize a mood that has a stuck quality like loneliness or dread.
"Even my patience has limits. you know."
So in the Lost Woods in Breath of the Wild the whole point of the atmosphere
is to make you feel like you're going in circles.
You could be walking forward without feeling like you're actually going anywhere.
So the music remains completely static on a single chord,
it just holds on G minor harmony the entire time.
There's no sense of progress, there's no story here.
We feel like we could be trapped in these woods forever.
And finally we have fast harmonic rhythm.
"This thing is fast! Watch yourself."
So a fast harmonic rhythm would be where you have new chords every beat
or even a new chord for every single note.
In the Field Theme from Spirit Tracks there is a new chord every beat
which gives the tune a very upbeat and lively character.
When you use a very fast harmonic rhythm you can create a feeling
of constant forward motion with a lot of energy.
Now let's look at an example that uses all three rates of harmonic rhythm so
you can see how even on a subtle level you can control the pacing of a track.
"But there's always the chance that the next moment will change everything."
In the intro to the Palace music for Link's Adventure we have this second bar here
that uses three chords all in one measure.
It's a really nice way to start because it generates some energy and excitement.
For the main A section we have a medium harmonic rhythm with one new chord every bar.
And then in the B section everything comes to a halt.
We go from one new chord every bar to the same chord for eight bars.
This works in perfect union with the break in the rhythm,
the change in the texture and the fact that we're on this unstable dominant 7b9 chord.
This section is what William Caplin would call standing on the dominant.
We get this feeling like everything has been suspended.
The fact that we're no longer moving forward at our comfortable pace makes us feel a tension
which isn't broken until the a melody comes back and we return to that medium harmonic rhythm.
So as you listen to the whole thing pay attention to how that
intro pulls us into the main theme and how in the middle section we get this standstill
that isn't broken until the A theme comes back and has us moving forward again.
Another thing you can do with harmonic rhythm is what I call the harmonic crescendo.
So normally a crescendo is when you go from quiet to loud, but a harmonic crescendo is
when you increase the pace of new chords so the new chords are coming at you faster and faster.
Te music that plays when you open a treasure chest and get an item is a beautiful example of this.
Here we go from two chords per bar all the way to one new chord every eighth note,
giving us this quickening of energy which is the reason it feels so exciting to get your reward.
When you use harmonic rhythm effectively you can do things like this.
You can control if you want your listener to feel stuck in place
or if you want to build breathless excitement.
If you like this video you might like the one I released last week about how
to get Mozart as your private composition teacher.